[Stuart]

This has been a problem with the NHS for a long time (certainly since the 80s). The NHS actually does have procedures in place for claiming money back from health insurance schemes, but the staff do not use them.

An example. My aunt was a sister in intensive care for years, so she knew the NHS inside and out. Then, in the 80s, she emigrated to Barbados, only coming back to the UK to sort out her citizenship and see family. On one visit, she had several really bad Asthma attacks and her inhaler was not really relieving the problems, so she went to A&E (or Casualty as it was then). They gave her a Nebuliser. Not a cheap piece of equipment by any means, as it was a proper medical one, rather than a home nebuliser. She estimated it would have cost them about £1200 at the time.

She explained to the staff that she was not a UK national, so was not entitled to free healthcare and asked for the relevant forms so she could enable the NHS to claim back their costs from her Health insurance company. They refused to give her the forms.

The problem for the staff is that they are often so busy actually treating patients that they don't get time to do what they probably just see as pointless form filling, even though that form they are being asked to fill out may well enable the NHS to reclaim thousands of pounds. When I worked for the NHS, I regularly had to go to the staff and remind them to fill out paperwork because that paperwork enabled our department to reclaim our costs from the various ward budgets.

This is nothing more than blatant electioneering. Governments (both Tory and Labour) have promised repeatedly to sort out this problem, and every time, they've failed to actually do anything apart from maybe change the paperwork a little. OK, that "paperwork" may now be electronic, but I bet they still have the same problems getting staff to fill it out.